Tectonic shifts within the field have in recent years left health professionals in Connecticut facing unpredictable conditions and precarious futures. That increasingly demands a strong defense against misguided management policies prioritizing operating margins over patient care. On the fifth anniversary of striking to protect services and jobs at their community hospital, we're spotlighting union members enjoying greater security since taking collective action.

Members of five AFT Connecticut-affiliated local unions have over the past three months secured new contracts that raise wages, protect benefits, secure jobs and improve working conditions. While each individual agreement represents significant progress for working people, two in particular demonstrate the power of collective action. Both are the product of members engaged in local political and legislative action that positively impacted talks with their employers.

AFT Connecticut leaders made the following remarks regarding the introduction Friday of the "Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act" (H.R. 7141) by U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (CT-2):

Vernon - The majority of a diverse group of healthcare professionals at Rockville General Hospital (RGH) today voted for union representation in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)-supervised election. The outcome is a win for the bargaining unit of approximately 150 nursing assistants, maintainers, unit coordinators and others at the Prospect Medical Holdings, Inc.-owned acute care facility. Members of the organizing committee who spearheaded the union drive are looking ahead to first-ever negotiations with the for-profit company's local Eastern Connecticut Health Network (ECHN) management.

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Our national union is taking action to hold the federal education department and its contracted private servicers accountable to student loan borrowers. Click here to share your story of being subjected to predatory, fraudulent activities and of struggling with the burden of debt.